King Cruff reflects on carrying Bob Marley's musical legacy

The Block0:00The Block - Episode 744

King Cruff, born Solomon Marley-Spence, is the grandson of legendary reggae music icon Bob Marley. The MC and singer opened up in a new interview about going by a stage name and how that informs his music.

"I didn't use the [Marley] name in my stage name because for me personally, there was just no call for me to do that, you know?" he tells The Block's Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe. 

"I want people to come in and work from a clean slate [and] not have there be any expectations [so] they can allow themselves to enjoy the music," he adds.

The full interview is available above and you can read an excerpt of their conversation below.

All right, so first of all, I want to talk about the name, King Cruff. Now, I'm not from Jamaica, but I've come to know that Cruff has a specific meaning there. It's a colloquialism? A slang word, meaning...

Cruff means somebody who has no ambition or style or vision. You know, it's not a very nice word. And I chose that name because people used to call me that growing up. And it's kind of like [me] reclaiming [it], you know what I mean? Especially because I put the "King" in front of it, it's a nice juxtaposition. It's showing that you could be the best of your potential and the worst of your potential, which I feel like is the theme of my life.

The best and the worst, in one.

There you go.

We're all complicated people. So let's talk a little bit about your upbringing, because you were born in London, Ontario. 

Correct.

And how long were you living in London, Ontario, before you moved [to Jamaica]?

I think I was only like a year old.

Only a year old?

Just a baby. I don't have any memories of growing up in Canada. 

Oh my God, that's interesting. So why was your mother in Canada? 

She was going to school. She went to Western University. 

Oh, so she met your father here, and then you were born here, is that the situation?

She met my father in Jamaica. And then right before, you know...

Oh I see.

There you go, the story is lining up. So right before she came home for a while, she was pregnant with me, and then she had me.

So that gives you Canadian citizenship, nice.

Exactly, yeah.

And then at one year old, you move back to Jamaica. And that's where you spent the majority of your youth. Until it was time to go to university. One of the things I want to point out is that you went to a very elite private school.

Oh, boy.

Right. Okay, so I just need to describe to people what I'm looking at right here. I'm looking like at a very fly man here in this nice coat. It's like brocade or something. It's quilted. You got the nice chain. You got the nice shades on, so you don't look cruffy to me at all. But I think that the perception of you might have been affected by your environment, and not so much a perception of what you were really like.

Yeah, I think it was more like that because when I was younger, you're finding out [about] yourself and a lot of people don't give you that leeway to be a kid and be a teenager. And if you mess up, it's kind of it's very telling of who you are to people. [They're] kind of like, "Oh, this is who you are."

Oh, so now this is who you are?

Yeah. Instead of looking at who you could become who. Yeah. So it's all right, though. Jamaicans are upset about the name still, but keep rolling.

Really? Which ones?

They were flaming me the other day. They were going off on me. But the good thing about that, because I take the good from the bad, is that no one was saying anything like,"the music is bad." People actually like the music and just don't understand the name. So they'll understand it eventually.

While we're on the topic of names, your given name is Solomon.

Correct.

But you are a descendant of the Marley clan, correct?

Absolutely.

But you don't use the last name Marley. Why? Talk to me about the family tree, the Marley family tree, where do you fall on it? 

[Bob Marley] is my grandfather. Stephanie Marley is my mom. I didn't use the [Marley] name in my stage name because for me personally, there was just no call for me to do that, you know? I mean, it didn't really feel like I had to come out as Solomon Marley, especially because for me, I had the Marley name all my life.  

And also, when I started my music career, I came to Canada and I was kind of like, I don't know ... I don't want to come out and then everyone's just like, "Oh." I'd rather call myself King Cruff and [have] people actually gravitate towards the story and the music and then find out about it, you know what I mean? So it's like an extra plus. Does that make sense?

It does make sense. Well, I mean, [there's] different ways to approach it. There's some children that are part of familial legacies that, you know, want to capitalise on the name as much as possible. And then there's others that really feel as though it's important to carve out their own lane, so nobody can question your talent. 

Yeah. I want people to come in and work from a clean slate [and] not have there be any expectations [so] they can allow themselves to enjoy the music. And I feel like people have been allowing themselves to do that so far.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.